To the Beat of My Heart
by dnite'07
Summary: When life looked like it couldn't get any worse, I always had music to keep me going forward. Modern day AU. Slash. 1st person PoV.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome readers! This is a modern AU told from the PoV of everyone's favorite nobody, Demyx! :D

First of all, this is a collab fic with my good friend... Nichi Nara (fanfiction .net/u/1187943/Nichi_Nara)! She's been doing a good job of keeping me on track and making me write more.

I'm not going to spoil you all with a pairings list or anything like that cause to me, pairings in the fanfiction world are plot points. Enjoy~ Eventual Xig/Dem

Rated T for Language and some suggestive bits. If you don't like reading guy/guy, please click the lovely little back button.

~Dnite07

* * *

I sat on the bed that dominated my small dorm while strumming my guitar. Sitting in front of me, my boyfriend of three years studied diligently. Without stopping my playing, I leaned back and focused on the ceiling.

Life was good. Rarely did I ever worry about anything and I knew exactly where I wanted to end up in the future. I was both the lead singer and guitar player in my band that included my two best friends as well as my boyfriend. Despite the fact our group was currently limited to the rare club show; something in the back of my mind never doubted we'd be famous one day.

Yes, life was very good.

"Can you play any softer? I'm trying to concentrate." Zexion, sadly, had a habit of stressing far too much over his exams.

After gently laying my guitar down, I rose from the bed, "Zexion, please…" I moved behind my boyfriend and rubbed his shoulders hoping to ease some of his obvious tension. "You haven't been outside for the past week. Let's just go out for dinner or something fun. We wouldn't even be gone that long."

"Demyx, you know I can't do that. Exams are next week and I'm already behind on my studying." Much to my dismay he pushed me off him and returned to hunching over his book.

"Come on, you've spent every waking hour either going to class or sitting at this desk with your face glued to that book." I returned to his side and playfully tugged at his arm. "A little fun won't kill you."

"Stop it. Stop distracting me." He shrugged me off once again. "You can go out with Saix and Axel. You don't need to spend every moment with me."

"I'm just looking out for your best interest." I sighed. "And I'm not going out with Axel and Saix. I'm dating you. Although, we haven't gone on a date for over a month…" I trailed off with that last thought. The more I thought about it, the more it depressed me.

"Demyx, I know you don't understand how hard the courses I'm taking are and I'm sorry for neglecting you. However, this is my future. If I don't do well on these exams, I'll lose all hope of ever becoming a surgeon. You know how long that's been my dream. It's much more of a priority then you are at the moment." His back remained turned to me.

Something in his comment made me crack. I knew he could be cold and something deep inside me still understood where he was coming from, but that side of my mind just shut off.

"Your future? Is that seriously all you care about? After three years together, I just assumed I was somewhat important to you. All I want from you is maybe an hour or two, but apparently I can't even have that. You can be so fucking selfish sometimes!"

"Just because I care about my future, unlike you, doesn't make me selfish." For the first time in a week he shut his book and turned to face me. "You have no right to criticize my study habits. You don't even have a major chosen. I've tried to convince you to choose one. I'd say that's looking after someone's best interest even more so than convincing them to stop studying. You need to choose a backup plan instead of insisting to be the next huge fucking rock star." His tone was still calm, and that scared me more than anything.

"Since when did this turn into a discussion about me? The problem here is you doing nothing but constantly overworking yourself!"

"That isn't a problem. It simply means I want to do well at something obtainable. When anyone decides to help you make smarter life decisions, you ignore them. Demyx, you have to grow up and stop being a stupid little 80's punk rock wannabe."

"What the hell? Why are you saying these things?"

"Until you get that through your head," pausing, he turned to face me. "I don't think it's a good idea to continue acting like a perfect happy little couple." He stood up and began packing up his books.

My throat was choking up as I fought to hold back tears. "Wh—what? What are you doing? We… we are a happy little couple…We love each other!" He began walking towards the dorm door.

"No Dem, I don't think we do. We'll be happier if we go our separate ways." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed a number. "Hey, Lex… Could you come pick me up? … No, everything's fine… yeah, see you when you get here."

The tears I held back began pouring out of my eyes. "Zexion! Where are you going!" He opened the door and casually walked out. "Come back! Please! Don't leave me!" The door swung shut and my cries remained unanswered. "…please…"

I wanted to chase after him, run, scream, and beg for him to stay. I'd tell him how wrong I was and everything was just a giant misunderstanding. Everything would be alright and back to normal, right?

I would never find out. As Zexion walked out, all I could do was stand there in shock, unable to look away from the door.

Eventually, my legs gave up on me. I staggered to the bed and grabbed a pillow. Shoving my face into it, I screamed muffled curses as it soaked up every salty drop my eyes poured out.

There I remained for an interminable amount of time. Everything was a blur. I was in a daze and drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

Knock knock knock

The loud banging woke me from my slumber.

"Hey Demyx! Wake up, you're gunna be late to class!" Axel's voice came from the other side of the door. He still wouldn't stop his banging.

Still hazy from the night before, I glanced at the alarm clock beside my lonely bed.

"I know you're in there! If you don't come out in five minutes I'm busting down this door." I really wasn't in the mood to go to class today.

"Axel," I muttered just loud enough for him to hear me. "Just go onto class without me. I don't feel so good." I hoped that would be enough to push him away.

No such luck. "Aww, come on man! Don't make me go into Number Theory alone. You know Mrs. Jane is out to get me."

"Then just skip out, it's not like she cares if you're there or not."

"But then what would I do? Saix has to go to his sacred astronomy class, Larxene's been PMSing lately, sooo that just leaves you. And besides, why would you want to miss Number Theory? Your sexy Zexy is in that class. You must be on your death bed if you'd willingly skip out on an opportunity to see him. By the way, only two more minutes until I'm busting down your door."

A long silence passed. I couldn't risk seeing Zexion. I wouldn't be able to control myself and who knows what I'd do.

"Axel, please just let me stay in…"

"10… 9… 8…"

"It hasn't been two minutes yet."

"Yeah I know, but I'm impatient. 7… 6… 5…" I took this as my cue to finally open the door as I didn't want to have to pay for it to be reattached.

"Happy now?" I growled.

"Whoa, man. You look like a train wreck. What the hell happened last night? Did you and Zexy have one of those crazy drinking parties? I bet you were up all last night. You should have totally invited me. Wait, no. Bad idea. Knowing you two, you were at it like rabbits and I don't think my poor little virgin eyes could take it…"

He continued his jumbled rant. With each assumption he made, my heart felt like it was being shot over and over again. I couldn't take anymore.

"Zexion broke up with me."

Axel's hyper ranting broke and his face shifted into disbelief. Nothing was said between us for several moments. I stood and looked at the ground as the information soaked in for both Axel and myself.

"I… I was just was trying to get him to relax a little, he can be so uptight sometimes, and the next thing I know, we were fighting and he just walked out on me..." The information just raced out of my mouth faster than I thought was possible. Once I was done, my eyes watered and my throat clenched up just as they had last night.

I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders. "Dem, I'm really sorry." I leaned into Axel's embrace and he continued to console me as I cried on his shoulder.

Axel has been there for me since middle school. My family had just moved into a new town right before my 8th grade year. I've always been a little odd compared to everyone and before that year I never really cared. I was prime material to be singled out and picked on by the bullies of the student body. One kid in particular, Seifer, wouldn't leave me alone. Every day after school, he'd torture me by shoving me into the lockers and call me a fag. After a few months of this treatment, I was pretty bad off mentally. Fortunately, one day Axel and Saix happened to wander down the nearly deserted hallway I was always cornered in. Without any warning, Axel beat the living shit outta Seifer and we were friends ever since. Of course Axel ended up with a suspension and was nearly expelled, so I had Saix looking out for me while he was gone.

"No way in hell we're going to Number Theory now." He let go of me and gave me one of his premium Axel smirks.

"Yeah…" I wiped the remaining tears out of my eyes.

"Instead, we're going to wait for Saix to get of his stupid space class and then we are going on the most epic clubbing adventure of your life. Until then, let's go to the Chinese buffet. Nothing to cure a little heart break like shoving your mouth with all the food you can eat."

* * *

Due to the light snow that had started to fall that morning, traffic was hectic in our small college town. It took us longer than expected to reach The Land of Dragons all-you-can-eat buffet.

A short Asian woman greeted us and helped us to a booth. Axel took a seat and hinted for me to go ahead and get food. Meanwhile, he pulled out his phone and dialed in a number.

I walked over to the buffet area and grabbed a warm plate. My normally large appetite had diminished so I simply put a small amount of chow mein on the plate. Deciding I had enough, I headed back to the booth.

Axel had already gotten up to get his meal. Our drinks were placed on the table while I had been up. Instead of digging into my food, I quietly sat at the table waiting for my friend.

"Saix says he'll meet us here in an hour." Axel laid his plate on the table and sat down.

"Seems like we have quite a bit of time to burn, don't we." I glared at my plate of noodles.

"I'll think of something for us to do; I always do." He returned to his plate of spicy chicken.

I nodded and proceeded to start eating. Everything was still in a daze since the previous night. I half expected to hear the random beeping of my alarm clock and wake up in the middle of the night. How I wish that was true.

A sudden wave of nostalgia consumed me. I met Zexion in our junior year of high school. He should have been a sophomore, but he skipped a grade in elementary school. If it wasn't for him sitting next to me in physics, I would have failed that class miserably. After a month of knowing him, I developed a serious crush. It took me a while to realize this because I never had a relationship with anyone before. When senior year was halfway over, I finally got the courage to ask him out. One of happiest days of my life was when he said yes.

I have never slept with anyone else, kissed anyone else, or even told anyone else I loved them.

"Demyx," A hand on my shoulder harshly shook me. "Demyx, you ok?"

Apparently, I had entered a delirious state and was currently sobbing like a madman with my head buried into my arms. Axel's voice yanked me back into consciousness. I nodded. Everyone in the restaurant, including the staff, was staring at me. I grabbed my drink and took a sip. My hands were shaking violently and Axel grabbed the drink so it wouldn't spill over.

"I should've known this was going to be a bad idea. Come on, let's get some fresh air." He put money on the table and calmly led me out.

We sat outside the restaurant on the edge of the sidewalk. Axel pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket.

"Want one?" He held out a tiny white rolled stick in front of me.

"You know I don't smoke." With an empty gaze, I stared out into the parking lot. Never before have I felt this utterly hopeless.

"Yeah that's right, bad for the throat. Can't endanger that voice of yours, can we?" His tone was slightly mocking. From his other pocket, he pulled out a Zippo lighter decorated with a flaming wheel. He took the cigarette he offered me and lit it for himself.

"That and it's a filthy horrible habit, but I guess it's just fitting for some of us." My typical humor started coming back to me.

"Psh, jerk." He lightly shoved my shoulder and returned to mindlessly watch traffic.

"Axel," A deep sigh escaped my lips, "why do you think he left me?"

He seemed a bit shocked by my sudden question. "Dem, do you want me to be honest with you?" He inhaled from the small cancer stick.

I shivered a bit in the cold. "Of course."

Smoke flew from his mouth as he exhaled. "Well, I don't think he was right for you in the first place." I was shocked and opened my mouth to protest, but Axel held a finger up to stop me. "Zexion just seems too heartless for you."

"You don't know him!" I snapped back.

Axel simply rolled his eyes at me. "Whatever, just giving you my honest opinion."

"Yeah, sorry. I'm not in the best mood at the moment."

"No problem, I understand. We've all been there before."

I pulled my legs up to my chest. "But, that doesn't give me an excuse to be an ass."

"True, we can't have you stealing my job." Using me as leverage, he stood up and walked around for a short time. Meanwhile, a silver car with a yellow moon sticker stuck to the windshield drove into the parking lot. "Hey look. Saix is here." The silver vehicle pulled up right next to us and came to a complete stop.

Axel lifted me up and opened the car door for me. While I settled in the back, he sank into the passenger's seat.

"Are you going to be ok Demyx?" Saix turned to face me as he restarted the vehicle.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." I managed a forced grin, but Saix looked concerned.

"I can tell when you're lying." He turned back around and put the car in drive. "So Axel, where are we headed to?"

"Demyx, you like Atlantica don't you?" Axel knew me too well. The underwater themed club was by far one of my favorite places in town. My face was beaming.

"Hell yes! Can we go, Saix, please can we go?" I was literally jumping up and down in the back seat of the car.

"See Saix, it's not hard to make him happy again." The two in the front seat laughed.

"I live to serve." I saw Saix with a bright smile from the car mirror. "To Atlantica we go."

* * *

We parked down the street from the club. Unfortunately, Axel and Saix held me back from running as fast as I could to the entrance of the night club.

"Demyx, you're the one with the entry card, so if you leave us, how will we get in?" Axel yanked my hood back. "Pouting won't get you in any faster."

Eventually we reached Sebastian, the club's bouncer, at the door. I flashed him my card and he let us through.

My eyes lit up as I took in the heavy atmosphere of strobe lights and fast beat music. Neon lit fish tanks decorated every wall and bubbles flowed from vents in the ceiling.

As usual, the place was absolutely packed. In front of a large stage, a dense crowd of people moshed on a glowing blue dance floor. Axel and Saix had separated from me but I didn't bother looking for them. Instead, I pushed through the throngs until I reached the mosh pit. From there, I simply moved with the crowd.

As I danced, I took note of the amazing vocalist onstage. Nearly every time I came to this club, the same scarlet haired girl led the performance. Her voice always left me in awe when I heard it. Sometimes she would help me with my vocals if I could catch her after her shows.

An elbow jabbed my gut.

I managed to keep from barfing out my lunch, but I still needed to sit down. After squirming my way off the dance floor, I scouted out the bar and staggered over to it.

"Hey Demyx," The blond bartender greeted me.

My stomach was quickly recovering. "Heya Flounder."

"So, when are we ever gunna get your band to perform here again?" Only a month ago, my band had our first show ever at this very place. It took a lot of work to score that gig, but all the effort had paid off. That was definitely in the top five of my favorite moments ever.

"Why? Did you really like us that much?"

"You guys are amazing! Anyways, Ariel," he gestured towards the stage at the young girl with flowing red hair. "She deserves a break from all the work Ursula makes her does. She's such a beautiful singer, but her voice gets strained after several consecutive weeks. When bands come and play, that's one weekend she gets the night off."

"We'd absolutely love play here again, but I don't think the manager liked us very much." The old squid of a woman made it very clear after our one and only show that she never wanted us there again. The crowd however, had disagreed with her. Sadly, it wasn't up to them where we could play.

"Don't worry. Ursula's just like that to everyone. By the way, need anything to drink?"

"You know I'm not twenty-one yet. I'll just take a glass of water."

"I'm afraid Demyx here might need something a little stronger tonight." Saix came over to the counter and sat in a stool beside me. "Get him anything with alcohol." He pulled out his id from his wallet showing his age.

"What's the occasion?"

"We're down a band member." Saix spoke nonchalantly. However, for the third time that day, my usually happy expression broke. Only then did Saix realize his error.

This was the moment I realized Zexion hadn't just broken my heart. By leaving me, he left my band. Without him, we had no keyboard player. In one simple move, he managed to crush the two things I cared about the most in my life. I was devastated.

"… that bastard…" I muttered and stood up from my stool.

"Demyx, I didn't mean it like that." Saix attempted to console me but I brushed him off. Flounder backed away from us and began serving his other customers.

"How could he do this to me?" Breathing became hard in the cramped building. "He knew this band was the only thing I cared about as much as him!"

Nearly everyone at the bar was staring at me. "Demyx, calm down. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you like this."

"Why do you care Saix? Don't try to defend him because I know you and Axel always hated him. I bet you saw this coming from a mile away, didn't you? Why the hell didn't you speak up before now?" In a frantic rage, I screamed at Saix, unable to stop myself. A wave of claustrophobia overcame me and I had to get out of that place.

I ran.

Behind me, I could make out the sounds of my two friends arguing. I didn't care. All that mattered to me at the moment was escaping.

A red flash wormed its way in front of me. "Get a hold of yourself Dem." Two hands on my shoulders tried to hold me down. "Just go sit and lay your head down. That'll make you feel better."

I violently shoved Axel out of my way and neared the exit. Upon leaving the building, I noticed the light snow had changed to a drizzle of rain.

I stopped and stared into the sky. The fresh scent of rain relaxed my rabid state and I took a deep breath. As I slowly exhaled, my foggy mind cleared.

Axel and Saix made their way out of the club and observed every move I made.

"Get the car, Saix." Axel cautiously approached me. "Demyx…"

"I'll be fine Axel" I avoided looking into his eyes. "Just give me some time to think things through."

"Hope you don't take too long. We miss the old Demyx. Besides, exams are next week and we don't want you to fail because Zexion didn't have the decency to wait until break."

"Damn" I laughed pathetically. "I forgot all about those."

Saix's silver car drove up next to us and we sat inside.

The drive back to the dorms was uneventful. An uneasy silence followed us back from the club and no one dared to say a word. As Axel and Saix concentrated on the road, I lost myself on my thoughts of Zexion.

After we arrived, my two friends led me to the room I formerly shared. Once again, Axel asked if I would be ok. My answer remained the same. With that, they left me all alone.

As I had done the previous night, I staggered to my bed and cried myself to sleep.

* * *

Well I hope you all liked the chapter! oh and by the way, Dnite07 and I now own your souls. Just kidding. Anywho, we love reviews! Tell us what you though of the chapter and it might make us more eager to update. Also if you have any ideas PM either one of us.  
Hugs- Nichi Nara


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about the lateness of this chapter. It's been a busy summer. We have a lot planned for this fic and can't wait to finish it. Next chapter shouldn't be as late as this one :D

Sorry if we portray something wrong about college, as both of us are in high school.

Disclaimer: We don't own Kingdom Hearts, but if we did, the Organization would still be alive.

* * *

The clock taunted me as it ticked. Each sound it made equaled one less second I had to complete the exam in front of me. My pencil hovered over the work space for the first problem while my brain panicked. How was I supposed to know the difference between Goldbach's conjecture from Fermat's last theorem? Quickly glancing to my right, I noticed Axel had just completed number seven out of fifty.

Zexion's words replayed through my head. All of his criticism of how I spent my time finally made sense. I knew I should have studied, but that was the last thing on my mind for the past two weeks. Instead of reading my textbook and taking notes, I filled an empty notebook with angsty songs worthy of a teenage girl. Seeing I only had forty-five minutes remaining, I made up something about a correlation with even numbers. Number two through ten addressed algebraic theory. I let out a cheer due to the fact I paid attention during those lectures.

Mrs. Jane shot me a glare warning me to shut-up.

Far to my left, Zexion raced through his exam and was already half way done. I glared at the back of his head for at least a minute. Six days ago, he returned to our dorm. At first, I thought he came to apologize and tell me how much he missed me and beg for us to be together still. In reality, he needed to pack up the clothes and books he had left behind. He acted like I wasn't even in the same room as he shoved his belongings into a suitcase.

"Mr. Demyx, concentrate on your own exam." Mrs. Jane threw a wadded up sheet of paper at my head.

I did as she said and struggled through the next ten problems. What did a musician need math for anyways?

Unable to help myself, I shifted to see Axel burning through the exam. Apparently being a Chemistry major required more knowledge of numbers than one would think.

He and Saix never liked Zexion, but they put up with him for my sake. My boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend, was in a completely opposite friend circle from me. While I ran around with a stargazer and a pyro, he hung out with an asshole scientist named Vexen and a silent jock named Lexaeus. After hearing Vexen and Axel shout death threats at each other when the two met, I was determined to keep the two groups as separate as possible. Saix was the only one who tried to talk me out of my relationship with Zexion, but I simply ignored him. Back in high school, I thought he hated Zexion because he took the Valedictorian slot from him, but I now know that Saix somehow saw this large break-up mess coming three years ago.

Tick

The clock reminded me of the task at hand. Fortunately the next set of questions was simply defining terms. This I knew from hovering over Zexion and occasionally looking at the book below him. Of course he would always shoo me away so he could study in peace. Damn it. I was irritating myself. How could I possibly expect to move on when he was in every thought that crossed my mind?

"You have five minutes to complete your exam." A variety of curse words raced through my mind. I still had seven questions remaining and they were all equations. Failure was imminent. Axel and Zexion had long since turned in their papers.

Quickly, I scribbled random numbers to look like I had shown work for each remaining problem. I honestly had no idea what I was doing and answered each question with -2 and circled it.

"Put down your pencils and turn in your papers."

I left nothing blank and understood a decent amount of the questions, yet it still felt as if I was walking the green mile as I approached Mrs. Jane's desk. Axel gave me a sympathetic glance.

"Good bye students, I shall hope to never see some of you again as you have completed my class. I hope you did well on the exam considering that determines if you pass basic number theory or not." Despite already knowing this, my gut dropped. "Enjoy your Winter Break."

* * *

"So how do ya think ya did?" Axel met me on the outside of the classroom.

"Honestly?" Axel nodded. "Absolutely shitty. I couldn't hold up my concentration for more than ten minutes. I didn't study at all and having Zexion in the same room didn't exactly help. All of my other exams felt the exact same. Mrs. Jane is going to fail me and I'll have my swimming scholarship taken away and have to move back with Dad and…"

"Whoa, slow down there Demyx. It's Christmas break now. You are supposed to be happy."

"Yeah, everything is just against me at the moment. I'll be better soon, so don't worry. Speaking of the holidays, what are our plans for the break?"

"Let's see. We have an entire month off, correct?" He paused. "I shall be spending these two days before they lock up the dorms with Larxene no matter how much Saix will hate it. I promised Larxene some 'us time,'" he made air quotes with his fingers. "So if Saix could stay with you in the mean time, that would be lovely."

"You're still going out with that witch?" Axel and Larxene got together in the beginning of the semester and every second they spend with one another was spent arguing and whining about every little thing. "I thought that after the last fight, which if I remember correctly ended quite violently, you two finally split up."

"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about. And for your information, we did, but the make-up sex was just too good to ignore."

"Perv."

Axel chuckled. "And you wouldn't like me any other way."

"True, so what else are we doing?"

"Well, in three days, Saix and I are going to my parent's house and hanging out there for the break."

"And what about me?" Rarely did Axel leave me out of his plans.

"You shall be going to your Dad's for the break." Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a large paper ticket. "Here is your train pass and you leave at 6:30 in the afternoon tomorrow."

Shock swept my face; Axel knew how much I hated my dad. "You didn't."

"But I did. This ticket was expensive and you don't want to be wasting Saix's and my good money, do you? Besides, you get to spend time with your little brother. You don't hate him at least. It's been like two years since you've visited him."

"Oh come on, Tidus can drive now so if he really wants to see me he can just come up here." I was furious to say the least.

"Demyx, its Christmas. You know, that holiday all about family joy? You're being a bit selfish."

"Then tell me why the hell Saix gets to go with you?" Axel promptly punched me in the face and I came crashing down on the ground. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Don't even try to compare your family to Saix's. You know damn well why he's coming with me. Jecht isn't the worst parent in the world. A few weeks with him won't kill you."

"Whatever." I growled and tended to my now bruised face.

"Now get up, I promised Saix that the three of us would go hang out or something before we take you to the train station tomorrow." Reaching an outstretched hand towards me, he bended down and helped me up. "Sorry about that, I really shouldn't have punched you."

I grabbed his hand and stood up. Man, I hung out with the most bi-polar people I knew. "Don't worry about it. I kinda deserved that I guess. I just need a break from all this crap I've dealt with."

"Yeah, you haven't been acting very much like Demyx lately. We miss the old non-angsty version of you." We started towards Axel and Saix's dorm. "Not being in the same town as Zexion for a while should help tremendously."

A single tear fell from my eye. "I… I suppose." My voice cracked.

Axel took notice of this. "Aww, come on. Don't be like that. If you choke up every time anyone mentions the word Zexion, some serious therapy is called for."

"Easy for you to say. The longest relationship you've ever had lasted a little less than a year and you were the one who broke that off because you got bored with her. Saix is virtually asexual so any advice from him is meaningless. I was with Zexion for three years. You wouldn't know anything about how that feels."

"Exactly why I think going to your Dad's will do you some good. If your two best friends can't help you out, your family should intervene."

"Oh, how is that supposed to work? Do I just walk up to Dad and tell him that my boyfriend broke up with me and ask him to make everything better? That's a terrible idea! You know how completely anti gay rights he is. He doesn't even know I'm gay and would kill me on the spot if he found out I was."

"That isn't what I meant. Tidus is cool for a little brother. Just talk to him." We weren't much farther from the dorm building. "In the mean time, let's just have one awesome night considering we won't get to see much of each other for the next month. No worrying about class, family, or relationships ok?" I smiled in agreement. "Good. Now that we have that understanding, we should pick up our third amigo." A guy couldn't have a better best friend.

* * *

Axel knocked on his door. "Who is it?" Saix called from the other side.

"Axel and Demyx are here to pick up our third musketeer." After a few moments of waiting, the door opened and Saix walked out.

"What took you guys so long?"

"Oh come on. We didn't take that long. In fact, we came over right after we took our exam. It's not like I have a car to magically transport me across campus like you do."

"Excuses, excuses."

My face had started to swell from where Axel punched me. "Hey Saix."

"Hello Demyx. Um, why does your face resemble a grapefruit?"

"Axel sucker punched me. May I please have some ice?"

"You probably deserved it." Holding the door open wider, he invited us in. "What did he do, Axel?" He moved to a mini fridge/freezer and pulled out an ice tray.

"He was letting off way too much unnecessary angst after I told him the plan to dump him off at his dad's."

"I see. I told you he wouldn't like it. Anyways, this is our last day together until the break ends. Do tell where I am taking you two." Saix had this strange kind of sixth sense. Whenever anyone needed him to do something, he was on top of it before he or she knew what they needed from him. Because of this, he's become our personal lackey. Out of our little group, he was the only one with a sense of organization.

Axel crossed his arms in thought. "Hm. Going clubbing again is a horrible idea seeing as how it turned out last time." He shot a glare of mock anger at me. "We can't exactly hold a band practice considering a certain emo bastard decided to quit." I returned his glare. "Ya know, considering how Demyx still gets all choked up when he hears someone say Zexion, I think we should continue to refer to him as that emo bastard from now on."

"I'm right here you know! And he isn't even emo!" The two jerks knew how to get on my nerves the most.

"That does sound like a good idea. We might even be able to avoid some unnecessary face punching that way." He filled a Ziploc bag with some cubes and handed it to me. I gratefully accepted and held it to my swelled cheek.

"Hmmm, we could always go to that cheap ass flea market just outside town. Those are always fun."

"Damn you Axel and your abilities to find easy entertainment for me." Curse my ADHD.

Saix groaned. "That is a terrible idea. Knowing you two, you'll find hundreds of dollars in worthless cheap knockoffs and expect me to pay for them." Saix was not getting a chance to ruin Christmas break for me anymore than it has been.

"You didn't seem to have much of an issue for paying for a hundred dollar train ticket for me when I didn't want it."

Just as Saix opened his mouth in protest, Axel interrupted him. "Yeah Saix, it's about time we got Dem something nice and cheap for a change."

"Ugh, fine, but don't expect me to pay for you." Saix has never had the ability to say no to Axel, something the red head and I use to our full advantage.

"Yay," I crushed Saix in a large hug. "You won't regret it."

* * *

We drove up to a large building and stopped. A cheap neon sign reading "Ag_a_bah" was on the front of the building. There were tacky palm trees and piles of sand littering the front. Cracked plastic towers with chipped paint were bolted to the roof to attempt to give the market a royal look.

"This place looks like a dump." Saix scoffed.

I however, looked at the place like a kid in a candy store. "And that's exactly what makes it amazing."

To my right, Axel grinned. "That's the spirit Demyx." He pushed Saix as we walked towards the entrance.

"Ah! Welcome!" A short Arab man ran up to us as we walked inside. "I welcome you to Agrabah Discounted Goods!" The man held his arms out in a grand manner as if he was showing us an extravagant display. In reality, there were several shelves full of random junk. Axel and I stared in awe.

"Go," Saix shoved us forward. "Go shop. Get this over with. I'll stay back here so you can't talk me into buying things for you."

"Beautiful man is right." The tiny man looked at Saix as he said this and I let loose a snicker. "Things won't get bought if you just stare at them all day. Now go. Enjoy. I shall keep your beautiful friend company." He inched toward a very uncomfortable looking Saix.

"On second thought," Before the tiny man got too close, he ran over to Axel and me. "I think I'll go monitor your purchases before you decide to buy anything." Axel and I struggled to hold in our laughter.

"Suit yourself." We began walking to the rows of merchandise. As we passed through the shelves, I pointed out the random junk I thought was cool. There was everything one could imagine just lying unorganized on these shelves, from creepy dolls to broken furniture. Not one item in the store was left without a price tag.

"Who would pay twenty dollars for a keyboard with the vowels missing?"

"Oh stop complaining Saix. What do you even have against flea markets?" To my right, it was as if a divine light highlighted a box in the otherwise dark junk pile.

"A warehouse that sells nothing but cheap Chinese knockoffs that break as soon as you take them home. What's not to hate?"

"Oh, stop being such a rich product elitist. You can sometimes find the coolest things in places like this." I pulled out a milk crate full of old 1970s vinyl records. Some of these looked as if they had never been taken out of their slip case. "Saix, this is like a crate of some of my favorite music ever. I have got to get this!"

"You don't even own a record player. How would you expect to listen to them?"

"I'm sure I can find one here. Where did Axel go? He can help me look since you're being unhelpful." My red headed friend had disappeared. I tried shouting to get his attention. "Axel, Axel. Where are you? I need your help."

"He's probably off causing mischief somewhere."

Suddenly, I was practically tackled into the ground. "Oh my god, Demyx! You will never guess what I just found." Axel found it to be a good idea to violently shake me as he explained this to me. With a beaming smile, he paused, staring at me waiting for an answer. Knowing him, it could be anything so I just returned his stare. "Oh you'll never get it. A blow torch! And not just one of those tiny kitchen lighters, I mean like a fucking mini flamethrower! I neeeeeed!" My crazy friend was being absolutely insane and I couldn't help but crack up laughing. "Fine, laugh all you want, but I doubt you have found anything close to being that awesome."

"Well actually…" I showed him the box filled with records beside me. Immediately he got off me and started flipping through the records.

"Ok, I stand corrected. They are equally awesome."

"Thought so. Now help me find a record player."

Axel actually stood up straight and saluted me. "Aye Aye Captain! Don't just stand there First Mate Blue. You heard the captain." Without warning, he yanked Saix's arm making him help. I decided to start searching in the opposite direction they ran off in.

Thirty minutes later, the two found me hopelessly digging through a pile of junk. I really wanted to find a record player. Back when I was still in Elementary school and Mom still lived with my family, we owned an old record player Mom had when she was a teenager. I was such a momma's boy growing up. In fact, I think she and her old record player were what made me fall in love with music. Unfortunately when Mom left, Dad despised anything that reminded him of her and either sold or destroyed everything that belonged to her. I remember crying like a baby at the age of thirteen when he smashed the record player to bits in his rage.

"Hey, Dem." Axel startled me, causing me to nearly knock over a shelf full of stuff. "Guess what we found!" Axel was clinging on to his now precious blow torch, which I must say, was a lot larger than what I thought it would be. Saix however lugged around a slightly beat up record player.

I could barely contain my excitement. "Thank you so much guys!"

"Are we ready to go yet?" Saix did not share my enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I think we've gotten enough." I picked up the crate of records. "Let's go."

Right before we reached the front counter, Axel spoke up. "Damn… I left my wallet at home!" I took this as an opportunity to check my pocket for my wallet as well.

"Shit. Me too. Saix, can you please pay for us? I swear we'll pay you back!" Saix rolled his eyes. "Pretty please with a cherry on top?" I flashed the most adorable look I could muster.

"Fine! If it will just allow us to leave sooner!"

We piled everything on the cashier's counter so he could ring everything up. "Ah! Beautiful man and friends are back. I hope everything was satisfactory."

Just before I was about to compliment his store, Saix spoke up, "No, everything was not all right. You have a store full of nothing but useless shit. How you and your kind remain open, I have no idea. It's an absolute insult to the economy! Besides, I'm sure even these things my friends decided to purchase will most likely fall apart as soon as we get back to our dorms with no chance of getting a refund." The shop keeper remarkably ignored all these comments and rang up the items with no delay. Once again, before I could speak up to apologize, Saix interrupted. "And most of all, stop calling me beautiful man! It's disgusting." This time the tiny cashier paused.

"That will be three hundred dollars."

"What! I added up all the prices, based on the sticker on them, and came up with only one hundred twenty, including tax!" Saix was absolutely livid.

"Oh, I see what you did wrong." The cashier pointed to a price sticker reading 20$ on the crate holding the vinyl. "This is the price for each individual disk. Not for the entire crate."

"That's insane! Demyx, I'm afraid you'll have to put those back." I opened my mouth to complain, yet Saix interrupted me for a third time. "We can find others on EBAY."

"Wait, hold on a second!" The shop keeper obviously didn't want to lose possible money. "I think we can haggle the price to something much more reasonable."

"Ok, how about two hundred dollars for the whole thing."

"I was thinking something more along the line of your original one hundred twenty…" Saix looked confused but was about to accept it. "And in addition to that, beautiful man kisses me. On the mouth." Axel laughed his ass off and I followed suit. Saix, on the other hand, was completely frozen. To make matters worse, the tiny cashier started making weird kissy noises. "Come on. Pucker up or three hundred dollars."

"You heard him! Pucker up Saix!" I admit I was being a little bit cruel, but seeing as how I was to be alone at my dad's for the next month, I didn't really care.

"Demyx. Please don't make me do this… please."

"Hey. I need something to entertain myself for the next month and a record player with no records is boring. Either waste another hundred dollars like you did on my train ticket or spend one second in agony."

"Axel?"

"You heard the man. Besides, you were bound to have your first kiss sometime before you left college. It's not that big of a deal. Just get it over with."

"It seems my two best friends have forsaken me." With a deep sigh, he cursed to himself. "Might as well do what they say." He leaned forward with his eyes smashed shut. With no warning, the creepy shop keeper grabbed the front of Saix's jacket and jammed their lips together. He did not stop there. I think I even saw the Arab man's tongue go between Saix's lips. At this point, Saix flipped out and shoved the small man off of him. In a speed I did not think was possible, Saix pulled out exact change from his wallet to pay for out things, ran as close to the exit as he could without leaving, and yelled at the two of us, "OK we are leaving NOW!"

Axel and I never stopped laughing. We gathered our things and followed our shaken friend to his car.

I was the first to break the silence that had overcome the car. "Um, thank you Saix. I really…"

"Never EVER ask me to do that again!"

Axel decided it was his turn to calm a nearly rabid Saix. "Aw. It couldn't have been as bad as you make it out to be. That guy was only on you for three seconds top. I mean my first kiss was with fuckin' Marluxia and you know how much I hate that asshole."

I hadn't heard that yet. "Wait? Really?"

"6th grade. Thought he was a girl and someone," he pointed at Saix, "dared me to do it. Not a moment I want to relive. Consider this payback bitch!" Axel playfully smiled.

"Ok, we're even now." Amazingly enough, Saix was laughing now.

"Good! Cause it would be bad if you killed Demyx in his sleep tonight while you stay with him while Larxene is in our room… oh wait, I forgot to tell you that. Oopsy."

Suddenly, Saix pulled over on the side of the road and slammed his breaks on. "AXEL YOU BASTARD!"

* * *

Whew! Another chapter written. As my partner in crime... i mean Dnite said, we are sorry about the late update. We want you to review and just let us know what you're thinking about the story. I have decided to give out cookies for reviews. So if you want a cookie, press the blue writing below! =D


	3. Chapter 3

I had this chapter done like 2 weeks ago, but I kept waiting for our personal editor to read it and she never replied :( Fortunately I finally contacted her and now its all edited :D

As always, we hope you enjoy and please review :)

* * *

I was up on the largest stage imaginable with my fellow band members. Millions of people cheered and hollered from the crowd below us. A huge LCD screen glowed behind us proudly displaying our band name, BURNING TIDE. As I sang the ridiculously complicated lyrics of our top chart song, I broke out into a guitar run that made _Through the Fire and Flames _on expert look easy. The crowd went crazy as they shouted in unison "DEMYX! DEMYX!"

Suddenly, our keyboard player stood up and put his keyboard on auto pilot mode. The crowd watched in awe as he ran over to me. Zexion got down on one knee and pulled a ring out from nowhere. The love of my life had my full concentration, yet still I managed to keep playing without one single fault. "Demyx, I have loved you forever and I apologize for being such a huge jerk and workaholic. Will you marry me?"

"Hey. Wake up." Zexion started shaking my shoulder. I had to take this opportunity to tell him how much he meant to me.

"Yes Zexion! I will marry you! And I forgive you for being such an ass and I never stopped loving you! Let us get married right here and now on this stage." The crowd cheered at our announcement as Axel and Saix clapped in acceptance. Zexion wouldn't stop shaking me for some reason. I wrapped my arms around his short body and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Get off of me!" I was then violently shoved off of my love and opened my eyes only to see a very embarrassed looking Saix wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"Oh hi Saix. I think I just had the best dream ever." Saix glared at me.

"Get up. You have two hours to get ready and pack before Axel and I take you to the train station."

"Do I have to?" I yawned and sank back into to covers on my bed.

"I let you sleep till noon. Now get up." He grabbed my feet and tugged a warning. "Don't make me force you."

I really didn't want to be dragged out onto the floor. "Fine, you win." My ankles were freed.

"Good. Now hurry up. We need to get you there early before it gets too crowded."

I took a shower and began packing. I figured a week's worth of clothes could last if my dad had a working washing machine. My clothes joined my tooth brush and all important hair gel in a small neon blue suit case. It was best to leave the record player in the dorm. Not only was it too bulky to carry comfortably, but I feared Dad would find and destroy it. My song writing notebooks went into a messenger bag. If it got completely unbearable, I could always lock myself in a room to write and edit my music.

Last, but far from least, I put my acoustic guitar, which I had lovingly named Midnight, in her case. She is a beautiful black Epiphone J-200 with a silver crown neck and flower lined body. Despite the fact I played her religiously, she barely had a scratch on her. Even better than her dashing good looks was her heavenly sound. When my fingers danced along her strings, dead kittens would come back to life. Ok, maybe I was exaggerating just a little bit, but my baby sounded pretty damn good. As long as I had my precious Midnight, this coming month couldn't be too bad.

Once I had all of my bags gathered, Saix hounded me out to his car.

"Axel will not be accompanying us."

"What could he possibly doing that's more important than saying bye to one of his best buddies. I mean he won't be seeing me for like a month."

"Do you honestly want to know?"

"Yes, I want to know why I'm going to kick him in the groin when I get back." I still needed to get back at him for punching me the day before so any excuse was welcome.

"Because Axel doesn't know how to turn off his phone, the last words I overheard him say before I hung up were, 'Oh yeah baby, I love it when you use your tongue like that.'"

"Ew, ew, ew... get that image out of my head!" The thought of whatever Axel and the bitch did in their spare time was enough to make anyone vomit.

"You asked for it." Saix put the car into drive and we headed towards the station.

"I hate you."

Saix cracked a small smile. "I know."

The 10 minute drive to the train station was spent the majority in silence, excluding the sound of Saix's radio. I spent this time staring out the car's window, contemplating how I would deal with this trip.

It wasn't that I hated my family. No, in fact, my four year younger brother, Tidus, and I got along great. We were always the strange siblings that rarely fought. When I still lived with my family, Tidus acted like my own personal therapist. He, unlike my dad, knew about my sexuality. Back when I first started questioning it, it was Tidus who I went to first, not Axel or Saix.

My old man, Jecht, was a different breed all together. He was a former army general who took a little too much pride in his work. Until Mom left, Dad was always away from home. The only reason he came back was because someone had to raise a twelve year old me and my eight year old brother. I had no doubt he'd find a way to return to his old passion when Tidus went off to college.

Nothing I ever did was good enough for Dad. He expected straight A's from us, but all I could ever manage were B's with the occasional A or C. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't do better. He wanted us to become the jocks of our schools. He had us conditioning every day and forced us to try out for every sporting event our schools offered. The only one of these events that ever felt right for me was swimming. Unfortunately, no matter how well I preformed in events, Jecht never appeared to give a damn. Worst of all, he attended all sorts of marches and rallies that supported everything I was against. Most of his support went into anti-gay rights. He was even a prominent member of a group entitled 'Dads against Fags.'

The beginning of my junior year was when I just stopped caring. Coming out of the closet that year to nearly everyone I knew changed my view of my father. If I was going against one thing he preached, I figured I might as well go against it all. My grades fell drastically and Saix and Zexion were the only reasons I didn't flunk the eleventh grade. I was kicked off nearly every sports team I had been accepted for. I only got to remain on the swimming team because I was the star swimmer and the coach cared too much about winning a trophy. As expected, Jecht wasn't too fond of my newly found 'I don't give a shit attitude.' When he decided to questioned me about what I was possibly going to do for the rest of my life, he laughed in my face when I told him I was going to be a musician. He blamed it on, as he said, 'my damned whore of a mother' and told me I'd have better luck with my life flipping burgers. Ever since, I've made it my personal mission to prove him wrong. Unfortunately, thanks to a certain emo bastard (thanks for the nickname Axel) it seemed as if my mission would never be completed.

"Hey, Saix?"

He turned the radio off. "Yes Demyx?"

"Do you think the band will survive?" He seemed to pick up on what I was asking.

"Of course," he smiled. "He was just the keyboard player. Not even that important of an instrument. And besides, you can always rewrite the music without a keyboard part."

"I guess you're right."

"Now get out of my car, we're here." A large rustic sign that read "Twilight Station" hung over an orange ticket station."Do you have your ticket?"

I shuffled through the messenger back and saw my ticket. One last chance to get out of this. "I can't seem to find it."

Saix seemed un-amused."If I have to go buy you a new ticket, I will be very angry." Well, there goes that attempt.

"Oh here it is!"

"Good, now get going and don't forget your suitcase and guitar." He waved as I gathered my bags out on the side walk. "Say hi to Tidus for me."

* * *

I walked to the baggage check in lines. To pass the time in the long line I hummed to myself until I reached the front. The woman at the counter asked for my ticket.

"Excuse me sir, how many bags will you be checking in today?"

"Oh just this one." I held up the neon blue suit case.

"I'm afraid you will have to check in the guitar as well."

My grip tightened around the guitar case's strap. "But why?"

"It exceeds the size limits we allow for carry ons."

"Could you please let this one slide?"

"I'm sorry sir. No exceptions."

I could not let her take my guitar. I had heard way too many horror stories of luggage lost in transit never returning to its owner. Or a large, heavy suitcase could easily crush the poor guitar if we turned too sharply. My baby was not leaving my sight. Suddenly, an idea came to me.

"Look, do you have any children?"All this caused was her staring at me like I was a crazy person. "Well, just in case you do, let me put this into perspective. This guitar is most likely the closest thing I will ever have to a child of my own. She's my baby. Let's say you have children. Would you leave your kid in the hands of a complete stranger who looks very untrustworthy? I think not, unless you were a horrible parent. Are you a horrible parent...um," I looked at her name tag, "Miss Aerith? You don't look like it. Please don't make me feel like a bad parent for leaving my poor defenseless child all alone. That's all I'm asking. Please." Now to hope she wouldn't call security.

She looked as if she was about to cry. Bingo. Dem one, trip zero.

"Fine, if security will let it through."

I flashed her a bright smile and leaned over the counter to give her a hug. "Thank you so much. You may have saved a poor defenseless guitar's life today."

I walked away from the counter with my messenger bag and guitar. I waved the woman good bye and went on my way to security. Behind me, I heard much many sighs of relief as I left.

When I came to the front of the security line, the guards asked no questions as to why I was carrying around a large guitar. Security must have heard my ranting to Ms. Aerith. My baby barely fit on the conveyor belt scanner thing, but she got through and received the thumbs up. Happy that I could be certain my guitar would be safe, I walked over to the platform my train would arrive in.

I pulled out my ticket to check which platform to go towards. The time on the ticket said my train would be leaving at 6:30 pm. A large clock on the wall next to me showed that the current time was only 2:32. Great, I bet Saix knew he was dropping me off four hours too early. I couldn't think of a single reason for him doing so other than to get back at me for the flea market incident. At least this way, the platform had a better chance of being less crowded.

I grabbed a turkey sandwich from a small deli stand. From the stand I could see the platform. The area seemed like a ghost town. The city my dad lived in was a pretty populated area, but apparently few others wanted to arrive four hours early. At least I had my lovely Midnight to keep me company.

I took a seat one of the many empty benches and quickly devoured the sandwich. I pulled out my phone and punched in a number.

"Hello? This is Tidus."

"Hey Tidus. This is Demyx."

"Oh my god, no way! Bro? It's been forever since we last heard from you!"

"Hey, it's only been like a year and a half." I had gotten a new phone around that time and conveniently forgot to tell the family the new number.

"Well, a lot can happen in a year! Anyways why the call all of a sudden?"

"Believe it or not, I'm actually coming to visit for the holidays."

"Sweet! So what, are you finally driving now instead of mooching of your friends?"

"About that. I'm currently waiting on a train. If you could get Dad to come pick me up at the train station at 9:00 that would be lovely."

"I highly doubt Dad would be up for that. One of his big football games is on around that time and he's going to a bar to watch it with all of his friends. Would it be ok if your little brother picked you up in his shiny new Mercedes instead?"

"Wait. You have a car? And a fucking Mercedes at that?"

"See how much you missed! But, yeah. After I led the school soccer team all the way to winning the state championships, Dad couldn't help but buy me a car."

"What? Not fair! He didn't do anything like that for me when I took home the state swimming trophy!"

"Yeah, that does suck. You should have picked anything but swimming to rock in. That and tennis are like the only sports he doesn't respect."

"You know how much I hate contact sports." Those theories about football and wrestling being the gayest sports are complete fiction.

"True, so anything up on your end?"

"Well, actually..." I heard a beep and my phone cut off."Shit." Now I had a dead phone and my charger was in my suitcase.

Great, now I had no one to talk to. As of late, I didn't do so well when left to my lonesome. To distract myself I pulled out my guitar and kept the case open just for the unlikely event that someone was to pass by and want to tip me. I flipped through the song filled notebooks until I came across one of my more recent works that was in heavy need of editing.

The first few cords ran through my fingers. The keyboard, bass, and percussion part would be cleaned up later. For now, I worked with what I had available to me, the vocals and guitar. Discord rang through the air so I quickly grabbed a pencil and marked the part. I restarted the song, this time auto correcting the error as I went. The intro sounded better, but it was far from being complete. The drum queue played through my head and the vocal part began.

_Why do you think I just want you for some more?  
If it the endings over why do you come back for more?  
Can be such a drag.  
Stir you round and round._

This piece was one of the many that came out of my recent break up and unfortunately was one of the few that were worth working with. I would have much rather worked with a happier song but this was all that filled my mind. The heavy angst ridden song came out of my mouth full of emotion as if I were playing in front of a large crowd. My eyes closed, allowing me to imagine the full band backing the song.

_You're a fake.  
Is it a crime?  
It's over, no more can lose.  
Fork over, just leave me quick.  
Have you wondered why?  
I wish I could smile.  
Screw the lid on tight with all your might.  
First come first serve.  
Is it right?_

Flashes of my time with Zexion flashed through my mind with every change of note. By now I could feel a few tears streaking my cheeks. It seemed no matter how many tears I cried over him, more would always be there to replace them.

_You're a fake.  
Is it a crime?  
It's over, no more can lose.  
Fork over, just leave me quick._

I opened my eyes for the first time since getting into the song. To my right, I heard clapping.

"Not too shabby."

A man had apparently sat beside me sometime during the song. I turned to thank him, but was caught off guard when I saw his face. The guy looked like he got into a fight with a blender and lost, badly. Both sides of his head were messed up in some way. His right eye, or eye socket, I couldn't really tell which was more accurate, was covered with a black patch. His left eye was nearly destroyed as well from a large scar that ran from his jaw line to just below the eye.

"Um, thanks?"

"Although, I hate to ask, but what's with all the angst? I mean I'm all for getting into the music, but you were border line bawling your eyes out."

This guy was really starting to creep me out. "Um well, if you actually listened to the lyrics, it would have told you."

"Well yeah I got that, but really? That bad of a break up?" Were it not for the fact I'd be all alone, I would have asked this guy to scram. Still, he was someone to talk to so I entertained his questions.

"You have no idea."

"Must have been one hell of a girl."

"Wasn't a girl." As long as his name wasn't Jecht, I really didn't care what he knew about me.

The man paused for a second and then shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat I guess."

There was a long awkward silence and I kept staring off into any direction but his. Before I knew what happened, the man snatched the song notebook and started to flip through it.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"As if! Anyways, hold your horses. I'm trying to help you believe it or not."

"Jerk! For all I know, you're just trying to steal my music."

"Nah, I have too much respect for musicians to do that." He returned to the notebook.

"So, you got a band?" This guy really asked too many questions.

"Um, yeah. We're just a small local band though. Call ourselves the Burning Tide. Not exactly the most successful band ever."

"Based on your book here, you seem to take it pretty seriously."

I looked back up at the giant clock on the wall. 3:44. At least he was passing the time. "Well, music is kinda my life."

The man smirked. "That's what I like to hear." He continued to read the music I had written. "Did you write all these yourself?" I nodded nervously. This guy could easily run away with my music, my short life's work, and from the look of him, there was little I could do to stop him. "Wow, you are talented. At first I thought you were just one of those angsty scene kids who played guitar cause it was 'cool', but damn! You have the whole fuckin band arrangement all nicely organized. And written out for what, five people?"

"Four people."

"I see five parts written, dude."

"Yeah, I do vocals and play the guitar at the same time."

"Oh yeah, good luck with that. I'd like to see you try with parts as complicated as these." That angered me. No one insulted my playing like that, especially for my own music.

"Pick any song from that book and I'll prove you wrong."

"Hah. As if! Tell you what. If you can prove me wrong, I'll make it worth your while. I should warn you though, I can be a pretty damn harsh critic."

"Whatever old man," I pointed to his skunk hair in a ponytail. To my pleasure his seemed to offend him."Just pick a song."

"Hey! I'm not old, not even 40 yet." That couldn't be true. He looked no younger than fifty. "Anyways play this one, nice happy sounding major key." I looked at the song he chose. 'Wonderwall' It was one of the earlier works I had written.

"Why pick something so simple?"

"I just wanna see how well you can make it dance."

He smirked and I had nothing better to do so I obliged.

_Today is gonna be the day  
That they're gonna throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you gotta do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do about you now _

I wrote this sophomore year in high school. Believe it or not, this wasn't a romance song. In fact, it was my gift to Axel for his sixteenth birthday.

Backbeat the word was on the street  
That the fire in your heart is out  
I'm sure you've heard it all before  
But you never really had a doubt  
I don't believe that anybody feels  
The way I do about you now

With Axel, I'd always have someone to look out for me no matter how bad things got.

_And all the roads we have to walk along are winding  
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding  
There are many things that I would  
Like to say to you  
I don't know how  
Because maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall _

As the last note rang, I turned to the scarred man. "Well?"

He simply smiled. "I believe I have found myself a band."

"Wait, what?" Everything this guy said was so random.

"Sorry, it seems I forgot to introduce myself." He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small white card. "Name's Xigbar, talent manager, currently in search of talent." I looked at him with disbelief. "And I'd like to look further into your band as a potential client."

"You're kidding me. You're fucking kidding me. Show me the cameras. I'm not falling for it."

The scarred man, Xigbar, looked very confused. "Um, dude, what are you talking about?"

"How can you possibly expect me to believe this? This all must be some fucking elaborate prank. What, is it some new reality show where you find a guy's hopes and dreams just to crush em by the end of the episode?"

"Dude, I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you or anything. I honestly think you're talented and if your band is anything like you are, I think I found a real gem."

"Look, I haven't had the best time lately and I really wish you'd stop lying to me." Xigbar looked at his watch and sighed.

"Just take this card and go to the site on it. If you are willing to take a risk and have a possible chance to move your career forward, just email your, let's say, fifteen to twenty best songs. If I like them, I'll get back to you and see if we can work out a deal." He tossed the card into my guitar case.

I was speechless. Maybe this guy wasn't lying.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch my train. Only reason I was down here was cause I heard you playing." Xigbar stood up. " Hopefully, I'll hear from you later… um, I never got your name"

I glanced at the card now in my case and then turned my view back to him. "I'm Demyx."

"Nice to meet ya Demyx. I wish you change your mind."

Xigbar left. Now all alone, I could only sit in silence. For the remaining two hours waiting on my train, I wondered what the fuck just happened.

* * *

Hey! Awesome chapter right? Giggle! Anyways, we love love to get feedback. Tell us what you think we are doing right, and what you think we are doing wrong. Also my fabulous partner, Dnite, and i DO NOT! own any of the music in any of our chapters. If you have any ideas please let us know!

Song 1: Crooked by Jimmy Eat World  
Song 2: Wonderwall by Oasis

We do suggest you listen to the music we use cause its good and helps kinda set the mood. Oh and also we will rarely have the exact band layout as the songs we use so imagine awesome remixes.

Just one more thing. Hikarin-Love is getting the Demyx frosted sugar cookie she asked for. You wanna know why? Because we got a review! What now! just kidding. -Nichi


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